Grrrr. Our club just lost access to our main autocross site, a local high school parking lot we've been using for the last 3 years. We made a voluntary donation of $100 per event to the school, but having access to this site meant that we could keep our entry fees low and still make a good profit. Unfortunately there were residential neighbors close by, and the District has had difficulty getting funding passed. I'm sure this is why they are eliminating all sources of objection to their referenda.

So, anybody have suggestions on where and how to find new venues? What kinds of places to look for and how to approach them? Thanks.

UGH :-(
Sadly this is a reoccurring theme ... orgs just don't want the liability and noise associated with autocross.
Heck, even an exec at TIre Rack has told me that their legal team continues to recommend they not allow clubs to use their tire testing area, which many clubs, including mine, rely on for autocross.
Check with schools, colleges, casinos, airports, shopping centers, fairgrounds, ball parks, drag strips, oval tracks, etc that might have a space big enough. I know my buddies around Chicago pay $1500+ for lot access. :-(
It might also be worth using google earth to browse around for large areas to investigate.
Best of luck!

There are usable lots, but most of them are off limits. In addition, our county development regulations dictate so much landscaping and stormwater management that the old school giant open parking lot is becoming a thing of the past.

We typically ran our finale event every year at Dover International Speedway, but that costs us $2500 in lot rent and their insurance is an extra $1500 per day. We kind of depended on making money at the first 5 events of each season to subsidize the Dover event.

Our fees are currently $25/$30 for members/nonmembers, so we have some headroom to raise our rates a bit to cover lot rent. But I still want to stay cheaper than our local SCCA region since we are not as large or as professional.

Alas, this is the /exact/ problem we battle here in our city of 100K residents. Finding big, open parking lots in suitable shape for autox is difficult. Our local hospital and the airport are perfect but liability and finding time when not in use are impossible.

We've had luck approaching local contractors, luckily some of the higher ups were members of the club at one point, and they were able to recommend some of the properties they lease out. Try movie theatres perhaps, or local college/university. Best of luck.

We've been blessed in that we've only lost 2 sites this year, one is supposedly temporary (which is what they said last year) and we've got two other sites left. The BETTER of those two just informed us that we received a noise complaint last year, so now, newer, more restrictive noise controls at that site.

Also, since our remaining sites are expensive, we're having to raise prices this year since we're using those more.

We're trying to get into airports around the area, but we haven't had much luck with that. We'd love to get into the local international airport, but costs are high, and the site wouldn't be that big.

Aaaaaaand, our local community college turned us down, despite the fact that 2 of their faculty - 1 of them the head of their automotive department - autocross with us regularly. In fact, the department head drives a '65 Valiant that the students built for autocross, and it has prominent college logos on it for great advertising. But NOPE.